In 2004, Lasell College Radio (LCR) opened up and created a new playground for communications majors to get creative with. LCR has expanded tremendously from when it was just a small unknown college organization. The growth of this group has taken much time and effort from the staff, and it finally seems to be reaching new heights in publicity.

Much of this publicity is coming from the revival of their social media networks and constant on campus events from rappers, metal bands, dances, and contests. However, with time comes change, and LCR has some big changes coming as new station manager, Justin Miller, preps to take control of the club next semester.

Current station manager, Jay Gildea, has already been working tirelessly to create a larger online brand for LCR.

“Our whole social media profiles do need to be updated” stated Gildea, when interviewed by Rebecca Gooch and Kevin Paul last year for the same course Expanding with social media

Now with only a couple weeks left as station manager, Gildea must prep Miller with all of his last advice to help LCR retain its growing legacy. The biggest issue with LCR as of recently is they aren’t using their social media networks effectively. We recently sat down with Justin Miller for an interview to hear his opinion on LCR’s social media profiles.

“I am probably about 50% satisfied and 50% needs improvement. I don’t think the word has gotten out enough in the past about LCR,” Miller said.

Fortunately for LCR, the word has increased tremendously about their organization. Just recently a poll was put up on the LCR facebook page for who the fans wanted to see open for rapper, Mason, at the annual LCR marathon Monday concert series. In a matter of four days the poll received 1,323 votes.

“We expected like 200 votes at the most for this poll” said Gildea, “When we saw the results we were blown away.”

On the Wednesday that the poll went up, the LCR facebook page had only 137 likes. Four days later it reached a new staggering amount of 363 likes. While most don’t find 363 likes a staggering amount, this is an enormous boost in motivation and publicity for the LCR organization.

“Never did we think that this poll would draw in the amount of people that it did” added Miller, “it’s giving us an idea of how we should start changing up our methods of promoting through social networking sites”.

This poll even brought some money in for charity. A random poll voter, Yoseph Elfakahany, stated on the LCR page, “Vote for interstate Flamez. For every vote that Flamez gets, $1 will be donated to the American Cancer Society”. Sure enough Elfakahany posted a picture and he donated $375 to the American Cancer Society.

We spoke with LCR’s social media manager, Bruce Martin, on the minimal amount of attraction. “It’s hard getting a new Twitter account off the ground and noticed. When we created this account we weren’t sure about how successful it would be.”

Unfortunately, the newly created account only has 74 followers and 86 tweets. How can the Facebook page be so successful and the Twitter account be so unsuccessful?

Perhaps it’s the lack of tweets. Martin thinks it’s the lack of LCR staff involvement as well. “A lot of the DJs get lazy and tend not to promote LCR’s social media pages. Everybody has Facebook which makes sense that the Facebook page is doing so well. Not everybody has a Twitter account though. Even if they do, not all of our DJs go out of their way to tell people to follow us on Twitter.”

Miller agrees with this as well. “I would really like to see more posts on the Facebook page by staff members. It gets neglected quite a bit by a lot of the staff.”

Maybe the reason for the lack of social media success is due to minimal staff promotion. However, things may change when next semester comes around. A brand new, state of the art, radio station is being built in the new renovated cafeteria, slated to open next semester.

“There will be three glass windows and four speakers outside the station in the cafe. People are going to recognize us more. People will be seeing what were doing. People don’t want to take the time now to see what’s happening” said Miller.

This new radio station may open up new windows of promotion for the LCR organization. People will like the new fancy radio station and will be curious of how it works and what it’s all about. They may even be tempted to check out the LCR website. This could be a pivotal moving point in making LCR widely noticed by more than just Lasell students. According to Miller, LCR is also planning on collaborating with the newly created organization, Lasell College TV (LCTV). LCTV and LCR working together effectively could create great opportunities for more promotion and bigger events.

The future is looking quite bright for the expanding LCR. When asked about the use of all LCR’s social media websites in the future, Miller explained, “I would definitely like to utilize the YouTube channel more. We only have one video on there. I want to revive the blog and myspace page but they are a dying media. People wouldn’t check them, it isn’t appealing to people anymore. I don’t really see them being a big part of our promotions in the future. However, I see big things happening with the Facebook page and we’ll definitely work on making the Twitter page more interactive with DJ’s and fans.”

LCR’s mission statement states, “Our programming is chosen and produced by the students and is aimed to serve Lasell College students, employees, families and friends with relevant information and entertainment that reflects the needs of academia and community.”

At the end of the day, this is an organization of extremely talented and hard-working students trying to make a name for themselves through their passion of radio production. While work is still needed with their social media networks, take into consideration that this is still a very young organization.

With time comes change and with change comes improvement. Each year LCR learns more and more about what they can do in order to be successful. Gildea has left a great legacy FOR LCR and is hoping that Miller can take the stage and make things just as good, if not better.

LCR just has to learn from their mistakes and learn utilize their social networking sites to their full potential. Once one can conquer social media, then one can conquer the world… Almost.

You can contact LCR or the manager of the station, Brian Wardyga, at their contact page

Here on the beautiful campus of Lasell College, there are many activities in which a student can be involved in. Not only are there are various varsity sport teams, but there are also club teams, such as frisbee club, rugby club, tennis club and others. As far as non-sporting clubs are concerned, there’s too many to name. However, one that stands out is the radio station, known as “Lasell College Radio.”

The radio station began it’s operation in 2004, and has since been going strong. Student’s shows on the station can be heard directly from the websites homepage by clicking on a boombox that says “click to listen.” Each show is one hour long, five days a week, save weekends when shows are two hours and are heard both days. Each radio promotes up and coming musical artists, and hosts can make their shows about whatever they desire. The radio also used to broadcast Lasell sporting events, but unfortunately the broadcasting program has been terminated due to lack of interest. LCR is also the sponsor of various social events on campus, such as dances, concerts, and barbecues.

Being a part of the radio station requires you to help out with any LCR sponsored events, attend every radio meeting, and play certain songs on the shows. The station looks great on resumes, and it is a wonderful thing to be apart of.

“It’s fun, especially ’cause my family gets to listen to me,” said Jessica Smith, a sophomore athletic training major. “I plan on keeping my show for the rest of my time here.”

If anyone is interested in joining Lasell College Radio, contact station managers.

Looking for something fun to do this week that celebrates the Halloween season? Are you tired of waiting to wear your Halloween costume?

Then Creeps N Ghouls is where you want to be.

This Thursday October 27th is the seventh annual Creeps N Ghouls Halloween costume ball here on the Lasell campus. It is a dance sponsored by the Lasell College Radio that is held on the second level of the Campus Center. A DJ from JAM’N 94.5 will be hosting this raging party giving out prizes to the best costumes, candy and of course providing some awesome dance music. It is open to all Lasell students with a 1$ admission fee. Starting at 9p.m. and ending at midnight, doors will close promptly at 11p.m so get there early!